Project: Berkeley Hills House
Architecture: YamaMar Design
GC: U-Unlimited
(Eitan Spanier)
Structural: Earthquakes and Structures, INC
Interior design: Alison Damonte
Artwork: Lucy Raven
Photography: Bruce Damonte
Text by YamaMar
This house is located in the Berkeley Hills, California, United States, and was modernized by San Francisco-based YamaMar Design.
Nestled on a secluded property in the Berkeley Hills, this mid-century modern house was originally designed by Ratcliff, Slama & Cadwalader for Robert Scalapino, a UC Berkeley emeritus professor of Political Science (d. 1990) and founding director of the Institute of East Asian Studies. Our client purchased the home in 2012 and commissioned YamaMar to envision a master plan for the house and grounds which could be implemented in phases. The client was looking to remodel the house with an eye toward a minimal look that put art and photography at the center.
The existing 3-story Berkeley Hills house had an unusually beautiful original cast concrete fireplace which YamaMar restored. Glass courtyard doors and cast concrete floors are also original. We carved out a new master bedroom and en suite bathroom, and re-imagined Kitchen, Dining, Kids Bath, Powder Room, and Office spaces. Flow up and down the house was improved, and a new look and feel was introduced using geometric tile textures, steel fireplace accents, stained oak wood flooring, and restored double wood beams at the vaulted Living Room ceiling.
